ISawYou@metronews.com
Send us your anonymous rants and
raves about your co-workers or any
badly behaving citizen—or about
citizens you admire. I SAW YOU,
Metro, 550 S. First St., San Jose,
95113, or via email.

COMMENTS
LLetters@metronews.com
etters@metronews.com
Metroo welcomess letters. Like any gr
Metr
great
eat work
should
of art, they shou
uld be originals—not copies
elsewhere.
of material sent elsewher
e. Please include
your name, city of rresidence
esidence and daytime
number.
telephone numb
ber. (Phone number will
published.)
not be published
d.) Letters may be edited
correct
ffor
or length and cclarity
larity or to cor
rect ffactual
actual
inaccuracies
known
inaccur
acies kno
own to us.
SanJoseInside
= SanJose
Inside

tto
o ssupporting
upporting ccandidates.
andidates. P
egram is
is
Pegram
ssimply
imply a b
ad ﬁt
ﬁt ffor
or tthe
he council
council and
and
bad
tthe
he city.
city. Religious
Religious zzealots
eallots ccan
an ccloak
loak
tthemselves
hemselves iin
nw
hatever ggarments
arments tthey
hey
whatever
w
ant tto
o try
try aand
nd ffool
o
ool pe
eople, b
ut tthey
hey
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people,
but
ar
re sstill
till rreligious
eligious zzealots.
ealots.
are
B
esides, h
ow much
much does
does Pegram
Pegram
Besides,
how
rreally
eallly w
an
nt this
this job?
job? He
He ﬁrst
ﬁrst
want
an
nnounced he
he was
was moving
moving aaway
way
announced
an
nd rrunning
unning for
for Congress—a
Congress—a vvery
ery
and
d
iff
ffeerent jjob
ob d
escription—then
different
description—then
d
ropped o
ut o
that. N
ext, h
dropped
out
off that.
Next,
hee
d
ecided iitt w
ould b
un to
to be
be a
decided
would
bee ffun
ccouncilmember.
ouncilmember. H
opping around
around
Hopping
ffrom
rom rrace
ace tto
o rrace
ace is
is not
not the
the sign
sign of
of
ssomeone
omeone committed
committed to
to public
public p
olicy.
policy.
I don’t
don’t tthink
hink we
we will
will have
have to
to w
orry
worry
ab
bout h
im winning
winning in
in District
District 9,
9,
about
him
b
ut II’m
’m sure
sure it
it will
will get
get ugly
ugly soon
soon no
no
but
m
atter what
what his
his “family
“family values”
values” are.
are.
matter
DR.
D
R. D | SSAN
AN JO
JOSE
SE

Pursuit
P
ursuuit of P
Power
ower
Man
Many
ny issu
issues
es raised by
by the right
g wingg
seem desig
gned only to ffoster
o
oster division
designed
and political
politiccal gain for
fo
or R
eepublicans—
Republicans—
issues lik
ay marriage
likee ga
gay
marriage,, immigration
and now the
t mosque near ground
ground
zer
o. The
eal to the worst in
zero.
Theyy app
appeal
p
eople and
d pla
ay on their ffears
eears using
people
play
rreligion,
eligion, ra
acism, homophobia and
racism,
xenophob
ia to blo
ck any
any movement
movement
xenophobia
block
tow
ard a more
m e equitable
mor
equitable and caring
caring
toward
world. This
ower
Thiis is the pursuit of p
power
at its
i uglie
liest. It makes
mak
kes the
h world
ld a
ugliest.
sadder and
d more
more dangerous
dangerous place.
place.
MOSSS HENRY
MOS
HENRY | SAN
SAN TA
TA ROSA
ROSA

Team Buildings
Team San Jose, the peculiar alliance of
hoteliers, unions and city bureaucrats
that runs the city’s entertainment and
convention venues, is facing the biggest
crisis in its short, contentious history.
Last Wednesday, ﬁnance chief SCOTT P.
JOHNSON issued a report showing that
the quasi-public entity overshot its budget
by $750,000, and tangled its bookkeeping
so badly that director DAN FENTON can’t
even say exactly where the missing money
went. Then on Monday, City Councilmember
Sam Liccardo turned up the heat, asking
City Manager DEB FIGONE to dig into
the hotel-tax-funded entity, which is run
by Fenton and an executive committee
including South Bay Labor Council boss
CINDY CHAVEZ. Meanwhile, with the rest of
the city reeling from massive budget cuts,
Fenton took a little trip to Fort Lauderdale
late last month to speak at a convention for
the convention industry—the Destination
Marketing Association International. As
that organization’s outgoing chair, Fenton
apparently needed the moral support of a
large posse of Team San
Jose staff members—he
Don’t
reportedly brought eight
forget
colleagues with him on
to tip!
the trip to the Sunshine
State. Ironically, Fenton
FLY@
was there to speak about
METRONEWS.
how cities can attract
COM
tourism while dealing
with disasters: “very public
environmental and political issues (i.e., oil
spills, ﬂoods, volcanic ash, travel boycotts,
etc.).” He should have added ﬁnancial
scandals to the list. Word is that Fenton
also did a tongue-in-cheek skit at the
convention about his desperate need of a
“makeover and rebranding,” considering
Team San Jose’s reputation in the trade
press, as Mayor Chuck Reed so delicately
put it, as “a disaster in the industry.” That
comment came after Team San Jose was
called on the carpet by a civil grand jury
for its ﬁnancial mismanagement—for the
second time in three years. KERI MCLAIN,
CEO of the local YWCA, is among those

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gfc`Z`\jfe`G_fe\Zf[\
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_\Ê[_Xm\[fe\XY\kk\iafY
Zc\Xe`e^k_\fec`e\jb\c\kfej
flkf]_`jZcfj\k%
Shoemaker added three of his
own apps to the store after he
began working there, Wired’s Brian
X. Chen is reporting, including a
urination simulator named “iWiz.”
The publication of the apps appears
to violate Apple’s own employment
policy for app store employees.
Meanwhile, Shoemaker has
deleted a Twitter account that, we’ve

discovered, showed him following
lots of escorts and porn stars, a public
indulgence in precisely the sort of
content his boss Apple CEO Steve Jobs
has deemed too harmful and corrosive
even to touch the app store.
In comments to Wired, an Apple
spokesman defended Shoemaker for
selling his own apps. Shoemaker was,
after all, hired away from the iPhone
app company he started. But the
spokesman also claimed Shoemaker’s
apps were approved before his
employment with Apple, adding:
“Apple’s policy allows for employees to
have apps on the App Store if they’re
developed and published prior to their
start at Apple.”
But in fact, as Chen shows, three of
Shoemaker’s seven apps went onto the
app store weeks after his employment
began, according to dates gleaned
from Shoemaker’s Twitter accounts
and from the iTunes proﬁles of his
apps. Meaning the man charged with

enforcing Apple policy in the app store
was thrice in violation of an Apple app
store policy.
And oh by the way, Apple recently
had to deal with a scandal in which a
midlevel Apple manager was accused,
in a federal grand jury fraud and
money laundering indictment, of
accepting of more than $1 million in
kickbacks from the iPhone and iPod
accessories suppliers he oversaw.
Don’t think for a second that the
sort of people who develop crude
body function apps are ethically
apathetic; a noxious dispute between
the competing ﬂatulence apps Pull My
Finger and iFart famously escalated
into a court battle (Shoemaker
himself is in the fart-app game
with his pre-Apple offering Animal
Farts). And App developers have
already raised various red ﬂags about
Apple’s own actions in the app store,
complaining of very unclear rules,
seemingly arbitrary rejections, bans
on competing technology, double
standards on data collection and far
reaching content rules that have seen
fashion spreads, gay literature apps,
gay sightseeing apps, political cartoons,
celebrity caricatures and apps with
pictures of girls in bikinis banned from
the store.

Amid inquiries from Chen,
Shoemaker deleted his Twitter
account, @pbshoemaker. What an
odd thing to do; other than supplying
Chen with Shoemaker’s precise start
date, the account didn’t offer much
ammunition for Wired’s story, and in
any case the magazine already had the
tweets it needed in hand; Chen made a
couple of them available for download
from his post, adding, “When
informed of our story, Shoemaker
purged his Twitter account cited
throughout the story and updated his
LinkedIn proﬁle to remove mention of
[his app company] Gray Noodle.”
Shoemaker’s sudden shyness might
have had something to do with the fact
that his Twitter account was following
at least 16 porn stars and escorts via
their accounts on the microblogging
service. There is, of course, nothing
wrong with that; Shoemaker should
be allowed to have fun looking at the
occasional scantily clad adult entertainer
or sex worker’s musings about her day.
It’s got to be a nice break from all the
technical tweets the longtime developer
has to wade through. And following or
otherwise ogling escorts does not mean
one is visiting with escorts.
But Shoemaker might have wished
he was more discreet with who he

THE FLY

8

who are beyond frustrated with TSJ, to the
point where she moved her organization’s
annual fundraising luncheon from the
McEnery Center to Santa Clara because
she couldn’t afford TSJ’s rates. “As much
as we wanted to stay in San Jose, we had
the obligation to move,” McLane says,
sounding apologetic. Fenton, on the other
hand, is chipper, according to a quote in
the Biz Journal: “I continue to look at future
opportunities to improve together,” he said.
“We’re pleased to do it.”

Fire With Fire
Considering how hard she’s been pushing
for Measures V and W, former Vice Mayor
PAT DANDO might be having second

followed on Twitter given his boss
Steve Jobs’ avowed position on porn.
His Twitter account, at a glance, did
not ﬁt well with the image Jobs has
crafted for the app store as a place
providing “freedom from porn.”
Jobs, a Disney director and
reportedly the single largest
shareholder at the kid-friendly
media company, has slammed
Google’s Android platform, which
competes with the iPhone, for
allowing pornographic apps. “You
can download porn, your kids can
download porn,” he famously said of
Android’s “porn store.” He told me
in an email exchange that I might
understand his antipathy to porn
better “when you have kids.”
If you look at Shoemaker’s account
in Google’s cache, updated just over a
week ago, you can see there were two
porn stars listed right there on the
front page of his proﬁle, among his 18
most recent “follows.” Given all the
ﬂesh in the proﬁle pictures, they tend
to jump off the page.
With 1,181 follows and 1,047
followers, one might argue, on the
basis of just those two very visible
follows, that Shoemaker perhaps
had his account set up to follow all
his followers back. In other words,
maybe he was following porn stars
involuntarily. But a look further into
his follower list—Twitter orders them

chronologically—shows a veritable
spree of escort-following activity.
So many followers on one stretch
could lead people to wonder just
how many of Shoemaker’s 1,182
follows were in one “adult” profession
or another, and whether he has a
particularly intense interest in their
nontextual activities.
More to the point, it could lead
people to wonder if it’s not hypocritical
for Apple to repeatedly insinuate that
merely allowing adults to look at porn
through specialized apps on its tablet
and phone-size computers is somehow
immoral, corrupting and intrinsically
harmful to families—given that the
very Apple employee deemed moral,
incorruptible and otherwise trustworthy
enough to gatekeep said apps was
publicly subscribing to 16 escort and
porn star Twitter feeds, at minimum.
If Shoemaker ﬁnds himself
confronting questions along those lines,
he might use this excuse, which we
offer to him ready made (pretty much
everyone’s been busted for some sort of
sexytime, right?): The escort and porn
feeds were research. How else are you
going to keep these persistent, slippery
little sex kittens out of the app store, if
not by learning how they think, and
what their plans are? They are very
crafty. And very, very, very naughty.

thoughts about her star turn, back in
2000, in some San Jose Fire Fighters
Union promotional videos. Since June’s
primary election, the Chamber of Commerce
chief has been outspoken about public
employee cost-cutting. Now she’s at the
forefront of the campaign to repeal binding
arbitration, a move to reduce labor costs
and the subject of the two November ballot
measures. Of course, the ﬁre and police
unions are against the measures. And
Dando can now be seen in two spots on
SanJoseFireFacts.com, a ﬁreﬁghters union’s
website, chatting about the importance of
maintaining public safety funding. Backed
by a high-energy soundtrack that would
seem more appropriate to an ANGELINA
JOLIE action-adventure ﬂick, Dando seems
to be opposing the very measures she is
helping spearhead: “During my time as
vice mayor and city councilmember, I was

very pleased that the city council had the
wisdom to approve the strategy for making
sure we had a ﬁre department that would
serve us well,” she says. The website, which
is run by RANDY SEKANY’s Local 230, also
offers up fear-inducing facts about how
response times will be affected by the two
referenda. Next to Dando’s mug, a blurb
reads: “Is it possible that City Administrators
have cut too far? None of us want anything
similar to what happened on May 9, 2009.”
That links to a Columbus Dispatch news
story about a toddler and baby that were
killed in a ﬁre in Ohio. Perhaps Dando’s
reaction to these videos will be the same
as her response to SAL PIZARRO when
he asked her about popping onstage with
GEORGE CLINTON at the San Jose Jazz
Festival on Friday the 13th. “It seemed like
a really good idea when they suggested we
do it.”

Ryan Tate writes the Valleywag blog
at Gawker.com, where this article ﬁrst
appeared.

sv 411.com
Discontent Grows With
Facebook Places
THERE’S A FUN and
charming story on
Advertising Age about a
woman and her friends
having a fun and charming
dinner together. All is well
C@KKC<9IFK?<I=XZ\YffbÊj
e\nj\im`Z\kXb\jljfe\jk\g
and good until Facebook
Zcfj\ikfXnfic[n_\i\gi`mXZp
Places, the new location`jXhlX`eki\c`Z%
based service that promises
to revolutionize something or other, spoils the fun. It seems
that people don’t exactly want their exact location broadcast
to all of their Facebook friends, especially without their
express permission. Oh, no: it’s a moral conundrum.
What happened here was that, while eating at a restaurant,
the author checked into Facebook Places. Then she tagged
the post with all of the people in her party. Now, all of these
people’s friends will have seen that they were at a certain
place at a certain time.
Never mind the fact the such information, to a random friend
on a hopelessly large friend list, is pretty much useless.
What’s happening in the social dynamics of the situation?
Let’s say Friend A is at the restaurant despite the fact that he
told his brother that he was “too busy” to help him paint his
room. Dark Side points. Let’s say Friend B told her boyfriend
that she just wanted to stay home that night to ﬁnish
something for work. Dark Side points. Let’s say Friend C skipped
out going to a soccer game with his co-workers because he
told them he was feeling sick. Dark Side points. And so on.
Facebook Places inconveniently exposes the half-truths we
tell each other that keeps society moving at a steady clip. But
whose fault is that?

It’s partially Facebook’s for not
requiring the approval of a Places
tag. That seems like it would be
pretty easy to exploit. “I’m going to
tag that me and Jim were out all
night drinking and visiting various
gentlemen’s clubs. Take that, Jim!”
Then Jim wakes up the next morning
with an angry phone call from his
girlfriend. “What were doing all
night? You had better not be where
it says you were!”
Clearly Facebook should change
the behavior of Places in that
regard. And no, a hard-to-ﬁnd
“opt-out” clause does not count,
Facebook. This is the type of service
that people should have to “optin” voluntarily. This surreptitious
claptrap is partially why people
have such a love-hate relationship
with you. —NICHOLAS DELEON,
CRUNCHGEAR.COM

evan I don’t think people care
about checkins as much as you guys
think they do.
Brabdon If you are actually at a
location with some people, I would think
most people would say, “Hey, I’m about
to tag us on Facebook. Is that OK?” If
you aren’t with someone and do this
maliciously, unfriend the bastard. Done.

Ryan Merket My iPhone for
Facebook app should send me a push
notiﬁcation when someone tries to tag
me in Places, allowing me to opt-in to
the request.
Jeff I like to think that the vast
majority of people are not lying all the
time. If they are, serves them right. If
anything I love the fact that this service
catches you in your B.S.
Jelly Munchkin The “well, if
you’re doing something bad, it serves
you right” argument is not a sufﬁcient
defense for the erosion of personal
privacy. Unless, of course, you’d envision
a world in which Facebook has become
a proxy for the Behavior Police.
Jeffj Someone should tag Mark
Zuckerberg in Places to say he was at a
gay strip bar. I bet you would see them
implement tagging rules pretty quickly
after that!

Block Zuck?
Not So Fast
One of the
most fun
ways to lash
out at Mark
Zuckerberg
with zero
chance of
it having
any impact
whatsoever
LEJKFGG89C<
seems to
8=XZ\YffbZXd$
have been
gX`ekfdXjj$YcfZb
thwarted.
DXibQlZb\iY\i^
Yes, the
_Xj]X`c\[%8epfe\
Empire has
jligi`j\[6
struck back,
making it
impossible—impossible!—to block
the Facebook CEO on his own social
network.
Blocking someone on Facebook
is a sort of last-straw maneuver
when you don’t even want to ignore
someone you had friended anymore,
or want to prevent another member
from contacting you in (nearly)
every way possible. It’s a great way
to be rid of that creepy guy who
asks you “S’up?!” 2.5 seconds after
you log on. To permanently excuse
yourself from the “friend” who is
actually a spam machine. To stop
hearing from the high school friend
you didn’t even like in high school.
Blocking Zuckerberg isn’t about
barring the door against a nuisance,
but rather a harmless way to register
a protest against any number of
grievances about Facebook and its
CEO—a pre-emptive strike against
some who almost certainly would
have had absolutely nothing to do
with you anyway.
BlockZuck.com made something of a
campaign out of this by publishing
the (deadly simple) instructions
for blocking Zuckerberg, the same
instructions for blocking anyone. As
of today, however, those halcyon
days are over—a victim, perhaps of
BlockZuck.com’s success.

Now when you try to block Zuck, you
get a message which says: “General
Block failed error: Block failed.” Not
for everyone, mind you. I checked.
Facebook, in an email to Wired.com,
called this “an error” which is
“generated when a person has been
blocked a certain large number of
times.”” —JOHN C. ABELL, WIRED
.COM/EPICENTER

RichardNixon Better way to
ignore him is to not use Facebook!
phoester Facebook—biggest
waste of time EVER.

iTunes
Vulnerability:
Gullible Users
So these reports of a major security
hole in iTunes, one through which
people have had their PayPal
accounts drained?
Not much to them, I’m told. Or,
rather, not much to their assertion
that Apple (AAPL) is at fault here.
There’s no security hole in iTunes
and if you’ve been unfortunate
enough to have hundreds of dollars
in unauthorized purchases charged
to your iTunes account it’s likely
because you’ve fallen victim to a
phishing scam—a variation on the
one that’s been around for years now.
Sources close to Apple tell me iTunes
has not been compromised and the
company isn’t aware of any sudden
increase in fraudulent transactions.
As for an ofﬁcial comment, Apple
offers this bit of common sense
advice:“iTunes is always working
to prevent fraud and enhance
password security for all of our
users. But if your credit card or
iTunes password is stolen and used
on iTunes we recommend that you
contact your ﬁnancial institution. We
also recommend that you change
your iTunes account password
immediately.” —JOHN PACZKOWSKI,
DIGITALDAILY.ALLTHINGSD.COM

The executive director lied about
his $11,000 cash advances from casinos
and a 4 percent self-imposed salary
reduction that he never took. Mr.
Plotkin has resigned effective Sept. 1.
Dana Tom, president of the
Santa Clara County School Boards
Association, is understandably outraged.
“The biggest arrows in our quiver
of support for public education are
integrity and trust,” she said. “You can
break trust in an instant, but it takes
time to rebuild it.”
We have too much public distrust of
our system of public education already,
and these types of despicable acts add
to the perception that there is too
much money in public education. This
is certainly not the case in California.
The CSBA is an advocacy
group for school board members,
superintendents and executive
level district and county office staff,
ultimately serving the children in
public schools. Almost all 1,000
California school districts are members.
The Santa Clara County Office of
Education (SCCOE) pays $12,600 in
annual dues. I just found out that
the 2010–11 CSBA invoice has not yet
arrived at the SCCOE.
At the Aug. 17 board meeting, CSBA
president Frank Pugh and the CSBA
board directed staff to contract for an
independent ﬁnancial systems and

compensation review. I wonder whether
or not we should withhold payment as
a protest to the lack of ﬁscal oversight.
While we purge wasteful positions
or practices from all educational and
governmental institutions let’s also
examine the bold report by the Santa
Clara County civil grand jury on school
district consolidation. The report
argues that consolidation from the
current hodgepodge of districts into
uniﬁed districts could reap a savings of
up to $20 million in this county alone.
Santa Clara Uniﬁed, the only district
that has responded thus far to the
grand jury’s report, said they review
the recommendations in the report
as “economically viable, managerially
provocative, and politically, somewhere
between improbable and impossible.”
No doubt the process to consolidate
takes courageous leadership on the
part of superintendents and boards,
but it is essentially left to the electorate
to decide. I am a strong proponent
of school district consolidation for
educational beneﬁts.
I was hoping to see a heartfelt letter
of apology to all school board members
and children of California from Mr.
Plotkin for aiding and abetting those
voters who believe public systems are
corrupt. Unfortunately, there was no
letter I could ﬁnd.
—Joseph DiSalvo

UST AS the weather is ﬁnally starting to feel like
summer, the fall arrives in earnest with performing arts
seasons getting started as early as the public schools. The
normally busy time of the year for the arts world is even
more crowded than normal as the annual SAN JOSE MARIACHI
AND MEXICAN HERITAGE FESTIVAL overlaps with the biennial
01SJ FESTIVAL.
In a sense, both festivals celebrate a strain of timelessness
in the midst of modernity. The Mariachi festival notes
the centennial of the Mexican Revolution with an
ambitious series of productions, exhibits and concerts that
continue a tradition of artistic and political revolution.
01SJ deliberately looks backward to a grand tradition of
inventive tinkering. Using the materials of the modern
technological revolution, the many artists, free thinkers
and hands-on DIY types at 01SJ will explore ways that
people can harness tech to grapple with a world that
sometimes seems to be spinning out of control.
The festival encompasses a dizzyingly diversity of
ideas, projects, collaborations and unique events; it also
emphasizes San Jose and the valley’s vital part in a global
nexus with far-ﬂung artists putting their heads together
with local creators. This web of connectivity can be seen
at the downtown gallery ANNO DOMINI, which hosts many
shows by vital young street artists from abroad, including
Brazilian painter FERNANDO CHAMARELLI, whose work
appears on our cover.
In the DIY spirit of 01SJ, our Fall Arts Guide is designed
to allow people to craft their own schedule of can’t-miss
opportunities with the help of Metro’s critics, who have
zeroed in on the highlights of the season in music, stage,
ﬁlm, visual arts, classical music and dance (fall art, food
and wine festivals will be posted in full on the web). Our
guide to fall is a living document that will be continuously
updated and supplemented at metroactive.com and
sanjose.com.

the music entertainment at 5pm
and spin in between sets. Other acts
include Jozes Than Wissem, who
makes his own instruments and will
By steve palopoli
perform an acoustic set; Inca Ore, an
experimental electro-vocalist who
ABSOLUTE ZERO
uses her microphone/synth setup
The SubZERO Festival in downtown
to modulate her sound; Global
San Jose in June wasn’t just an
Warning, a group featuring Greg
event, it was a statement. It
Zifcak from the electro-dance
played to all of the city’s
ABSOLUTEZERO
duo Eats Tapes, that will
strengths—innovative
will be held as part
take the festival’s theme
of the 01SJ Festival
and multicultural, with a
“Build Your Own World”
on Friday, Sept. 17, on
mix of artistic traditions
literally by constructing a
South First Street,
and new technologies, it
beginning at 5pm;
“paper environment” and
was equal parts style and
free.
enlisting the audience to
substance. SubZERO couldn’t
tear it down at the end; 0th,
have come at a better time;
an all-girl performance-art type
from its mind-bending headlining
band who Skype in their vocals;
performance by hip-hop producers
and punk-droners Clipd Beaks. Also
the Bangerz (with an assist from San
performing is alt-rock quartet Jonas
Jose Taiko) on down, it symbolized a
Reinhardt, who headline the stage at
re-emergence of cutting-edge art and
San Carlos; San Jose Taiko, who seem
music in the South Bay. The question
to up for some edgy stuff lately and
immediately became: what’s next?
will do a “roving performance,” and
It would have been a shame if
the cumbia group TurboMex. 01SJ’s
SubZERO had been an anomaly, an
partners in the street fair include
isolated incident that failed to build
MACLA, the Museum of Quilts and
any momentum for the downtown
Textiles and the San Jose Institute of
scene. But soon after came Left
Contemporary Art.
Coast Live, and then a sleeker, hipper
version of the San Jose Jazz Festival.
SAN JOSE MARIACHI AND
And now comes an event even
MEXICAN HERITAGE FESTIVAL
more closer in spirit to SubZERO,
the 01SJ Festival’s AbsoluteZERO.
Under artistic director Linda
The festival’s organizers had actually
Ronstadt, the San Jose Mariachi and
collaborated with Anno Domini’s
Mexican Heritage Festival seems
Cherri Lakey and Brian Eder on the
to get more ambitious every year,
ﬁrst SubZERO festival, but this year,
but this time she’s really outdone
01SJ organizers focused on their
herself. Not content just to host the
namesake event while the SubZERO
stand-alone festival for two weeks
crew went their own way. However,
in September, festival organizers
on Friday, Sept. 17, 2010 01SJ will
have partnered with high-powered
unveil SubZERO’s soulmate street
nonproﬁt organizations around the
fair. It has many of the same features,
state to produce a series of concerts
with, according to organizers, a bit
emphasizing the importance of
more of a technological bent. Along
Latino culture in the United States.
with some 100 arts projects along
Politically, it’s a response to the
South First, there will be two stages
draconian immigration legislation
of music in the SoFA district, on the
passed in Arizona, and the wave of
Reed Street end and the San Carlos
anti-immigrant ignorance spawned
end. DJ Tristes Tropiques will open
in its wake. Politics aside, though, it’s

listen up

17
rte
Po
La

untalented,
a triumph of sheer entertainment
but he was
value. First, the “Weaving Moments
always
Together” concert in Hollywood
better as
features Carlos Santana, our own
Waters’
Pete Escovedo, Lila Downs and Zack
creative
de la Rocha.
foil. Once
Then the series comes up here
they split,
for the Mariachi Festival, which
with Gilmour
is hosting the world premiere of
carrying on the
Adelita! The Women of the Mexican
band, Pink Floyd
Revolution. Written and directed by
actually became the
Dan Guerrero (who was selected
bloated, bland rock
by Ronstadt to take on this
dinosaur it was always
project), it’s being called
seen. It was also
SAN JOSE
MARIACHI AND
on the verge of turning
the most ambitious piece
too ambitious for
MEXICAN HERITAGE
into. What kept it from
of Latino theater since
its own good, somehow
FESTIVAL Sept. 15–26
becoming
that
for
all
Zoot Suit. A multimedia
losing more than half a million
in downtown San Jose;
those years was Waters’
mix of music and dance,
dollars despite the fact that the
most tickets are available
see how different organizations
at 800.745.3000. See
uncompromising and
it features Mexican
album was at the top of the
are rising to it. The San Jose
sanjosemariachifestival.
brutal creative nature.
vocalist Eugenia Leon,
Billboard charts for 15 weeks
Jazz Festival successfully
com for times.
Through The Dark Side of
as well as Mariachi Cobre
and ended up selling 11
branched out into funk,
THE MONTEREY
the Moon, Animals, Wish You
and Mariachi Los Camperos
JAZZ FESTIVAL
million copies. Waters
turning convention on its
Sept. 17–19 at the
Were Here, The Wall and even
de Nati Cano. The last day
swore never to perform
head with a genre-defying
Monterey Fairgrounds,
the much-maligned The Final Cut,
of the festival, Sept. 26, features
The Wall again until
lineup. The Monterey
Monterey;
Waters oversaw the construction of
a performance at HP Pavilion
the Berlin Wall came
Jazz Festival has taken
925.275.9255.
epic rock manifestos that deﬁnitively
with Latin superstars Los Tigres
down, and when it did,
the opposite tack this year,
deﬁned the album format. His music
del Norte and guests Intocable.
he embarked on an equally
going for a jazz-fan comfortcould be pompous, depressing and
There will also be a free outdoor
oversized and far more proﬁtable
food approach to programming.
excessive, but it also spoke to almost
concert at Plaza de Cesar Chavez
tour that was unfortunately
Among the artists returning to the
anyone willing to slip on a pair of
that day with Ozomatli and Los
watered down by its cast of guest
MJF this year are Roy Hargrove,
headphones and give a listen to
Tex Maniacs. The festival features
singers (Bryan Adams doing “Young
Dianne Reeves, Chick Corea,
Waters’ bitter assaults on the darkest
a host of other events, including a
Lust”? Really?). Waters’ solo work
Christian McBride, Kenny Garrett,
impulses and weaknesses of the
performance of Guerrero’s previous,
has never gotten its due, and despite
Billy Childs and Chris Potter. And
human condition.
autobiographical play Gaytino on
having been an ex-Floyd for
the new additions are sure to click
For better or worse,
Sept. 16. There are also mariachi
25 years, he can’t seem to
with the jazz-blues faithful: Harry
The Wall has become his
workshops and performances,
leave The Wall behind.
ROGER WATERS
Connick Jr., Ahmad Jamal, Delbert
personal rock legacy,
documentaries, lectures and art
performs THE WALL
With the album having
McClinton, Trombone Shorty,
on Monday, Dec. 6, and
partially because there
throughout the festival.
have been covered at this
Angelique Kidjo, Les Nubians
Wednesday, Dec. 8,
has never been an album
point in styles from rock
and more. But there are still some
at 8pm at HP Pavilion;
like it before or since,
to bluegrass to electro, he
fascinating ﬂourishes: Childs will
$58.50–$253.50.
ROGER WATERS
and partially because it
seems to have accepted—
premiere his Music for Two Quartets,
was so freaking gigantic in
perhaps even embraced—
Perhaps the grumpiest man in the
a piece commissioned by the
its scope and execution that it
that it’s not going away, and is
history of rock, Roger Waters is best
festival, with the Kronos Quartet;
continues to bowl over generation
bringing it back to life with a tour
known as the driving creative force
Friday features a “New Grooves
after generation seeking an escape
that promises to be every bit as
behind the best years of Pink Floyd.
Party” with Nellie McKay, Rudresh
from songs about girls, cars and
outrageous as the original carnation.
Sure, we all have a soft spot for
Mahanthappa’s Indo-Pak Coalition
ice-cold beer. The original 1980 tour
original Floyd leader Syd Barrett, but
and more; Les McCann will revisit
for the album is legendary, with
thanks to his overly romanticized
his groundbreaking 1969 album of
MONTEREY JAZZ FESTIVAL
its huge inﬂatables, intricate plot
and totally tragic descent into
jazz-soul, Swiss Movement, with the
and an actual 40-foot wall built
madness, we’ll never know if he had
help of saxophonist Javon Jackson,
The state of the economy means
between the band and the audience,
more than one genius album in him.
who will try to ﬁll the gigantic shoes
this is a challenging time for jazz
it was like nothing anyone had ever
And I wouldn’t call David Gilmour
of the late Eddie Harris.
festivals, and it’s interesting to

(Sept. 1) George Clooney plays a hit
man on a last Italian job. The ﬁlm
is intriguing not just for Clooney
completionists but also for its pedigree:
director Anton Corbijn (primarily
music video and the Ian Curtis biopic
Control) adapts the story from the
novel A Very Private Gentleman by
Martin Booth, poet, publisher and
sybarite (he was a translator of Chinese
erotic poetry and a major expert on
Alistair Crowley).

MACHETE
(Sept. 3) Ol’ rockface Danny Trejo
stars in Ethan Maniquis and Robert
Rodriguez’s satirical grindhouser,
which went viral on Cinco de Mayo
and is being released in time for
Mexican Independence Day. Various
racists and opportunistic politicians
(including Robert De Niro) walk
on the ﬁghtin’ side of the big man.
The cameo-rich cast includes Steven
Seagal, Jeff Fahey, Jessica Alba,
Cheech Marin, Don Johnson and,
yes, Lindsay Lohan.

A Critic’s Dozen
By Richard von Busack

SOUL KITCHEN

(Sept. 3) Fatih Akin’s amiable yet
hard-edged portraits of the new
Germany make this relatively lighthearted comedy very promising.
Here, a greasy-spoon operator in
Hamburg ﬁnds a new lease on life
when he hires a new chef.

THE TILLMAN STORY
(Sept. 3) The documentary details
how Pat Tillman—football hero and
good-hearted kid from the Almaden
Valley—ended up as an unwitting
symbol of the Afghan war. Director
Amir Bar-Lev interviews the surviving
Tillmans and discovers the intelligent
and free-thinking young man no one
knew, particularly after the network
news and the Bush administration
were through with him.

A WOMAN, A GUN AND
A NOODLE SHOP
(Sept. 10) Zhang Yimou goes
intimate after some wall-to-wall
epics with a remake of the Coen
brothers’ early ﬁlm noir about
murder and adultery, Blood Simple.

G

CATFISH
s
ile

yte
Ke

THE TOWN
(Sept. 17) Ben Affleck’s follow-up
to Gone Baby Gone looks like some
further Southie metaphysics. A
Boston gunman (Affleck) gets
involved with a bank teller (Rebecca
Hall) he once stuck up. Jon Hamm
of Mad Men, in what looks like a
big-enough movie role at last, plays
the FBI agent tracing him.

LET ME IN
(Oct. 1) Boy (Kodi Smit-McPhee)
meets girl (Chloe Moretz from
Kick-Ass) of a kind in this remake of
the intrepid Swedish vampire movie
Let the Right One In. Matt Reeves of
Cloverﬁeld directs what one feels,
with ever-childlike faith, a story
that’s resistant to messing up.

THE SOCIAL NETWORK
(Oct. 1) Ben Mezrich’s unauthorized,
semiﬁctional, padded and prolix
book The Accidental Billionaires
is the source for David Fincher’s
version of the fractious beginnings
of Facebook. Jesse Eisenberg
plays Zuckerberg, and Andrew
Garﬁeld is Eduardo Saverin. Will
Fincher (Se7en, Fight Club, Zodiac)
bring some edge to story behind the
fabulously popular website?

Hawthorne’s SCARLET LETTER gets
updated in ‘Easy A’ with Emma Stone.

ENTER THE VOID
(Oct. 8) This feature may steal
the thunder of Clint Eastwood’s
Hereafter (Oct. 22). It is Gaspar
Noë’s sex-and-violence drenched
spinoff of The Tibetan Book of the
Dead, with a gaijin in Tokyo who
is dead but refuses to leave his
bardo, a ﬂuorescent half-world cocreated by Marc Caro (of City of Lost
Children). Noë’s willingness (and
let’s face it, ability) to shock may be
tempered here by sweeter fantasy.

THE NEXT THREE DAYS
(Nov. 19) The redo of the French ﬁlm
Pour Elle has Paul Haggis shows off his
post–Casino Royale moves. A husband
(Russell Crowe) endeavoring to break
his wife (Elizabeth Banks), out of
prison, with the river-bound city of
Pittsburgh itself
as the outer
perimeter of
the lockup.

Claire F
olg
ert

George Clooney is guilty of nuzzling while driving
(with Violante Placido) in THE AMERICAN.

(Sept. 17) “Not based on a true
story, not inspired by real
events,” this puzzling story is
observed lo-ﬁ camera–style
by co-director Ariel
Schulman, the brother
of the subject, a
photographer who
strikes up an unusual
friendship with a
girl who wants to
appropriate one
of his pictures. Is it
ﬁction or hand-held
cinema verité? As in the
story of ﬁne artiste Mr.
Brainwash in Exit to the Gift
Shop, there’s more than an
element of untrustworthiness
in the narration.

EASY A
(Sept. 17) Will
Gluck’s comedy
is witty enough
to parallel
the ordeal of
a modern girl
(Emma Stone)
surrounded by
born-again Puritans
in an Ojai high
school with the book
she’s studying: The Scarlet
Letter. Plus the adults along
for the ride are impressively
funny: Thomas Hayden Church,
Patricia Clarkson, Stanley Tucci and
Malcolm MacDowell.

South FIRST FRIDAYS
an eclectic evening of arts and culture in downtown San Jose’s
SoFA District (and beyond) on the First Friday of every month

SEPTEMBER 3rd ART WALK + STREET MRKT
> It all kicks off at 7pm and goes ’til late! <

Anno Domini

Art Glass Center

Caffé Trieste

MACLA

366 So. First Street

465 So. First Street

315 So. First Street

510 So. First Street

Estates of the Splendrous and
Secret Alex McLeod solo exhibition
McLeod constructs three-dimensional environments that investigate
the tension between illusionary
and physical space. His CGI prints
of diorama-like environments are
hallucinogenic visions projected
into utopian realms, thus addressing
and exploring issues of ecology,
sustainability, and connectivity.

Join us at the San Jose Art Glass
Center for live demos throughout
the eventing in our workshop and
visit the gallery featuring beautiful
works by regional glass artists.

Opening reception of Gravity by
artist Valerie Runningwolf. New
encaustic works as well as mixedmedia pieces that are of traditional
and contemporary ideas that
awaken and encourage exploration.
First Fridays are Opera Night! at
Caffé Trieste, with some of the Bay
Area's best opera singers performing
your favorite arias and duets.

San Jose
Museum of Quilts
& Textiles
520 So. First Street
On view: the premier International TECHstyle Art Biennial
(ITAB): this juried exhibition
showcases the work of artists
combining fiber media with
new technologies in their artistic processes, in the content of
their work and as a means of
artistic expression.
Above image: Holding it In by Noel PalomaLovinski.

More Exhibitions:

SLG Art Boutiki &
Gallery

So. First Billiards

KALEID Gallery

420 So. First Street

88 So. Fourth Street

577 So. Market Street

Cukui & Friends ImagiNatives: The
2nd Gathering.
Here is another chance to enjoy
the art at South First Billiards from
the Cukui crew and their talented
friends. New Artwork, Live Painting
Session, Special Live Musical Guests,
Clothing and Goods Market, Free
Giveaways
All ages until 10pm/21+ after 10pm

7-9pm Opening Receptions:

ART OF THE ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE. - Those of us who survived
the zombie apocalypse can now
stop and appreciate the artwork
they left behind.Art by Jeff Bambas,
Bea Adams, James Brunner and
more.

Coexist & Bisect Two new manifestations by René Lorraine
Shadows of Light, from the
Hidden Sun: a vision of the
Authentic self. An exhibition of
new collages by Ras Lowe
Above image by Ras Lowe.

ILICON VALLEY residents can
count themselves lucky to be
surrounded by leading theater
companies. Here’s a roundup
of the fall’s most promising
theatrical productions.
Palo Alto’s TheatreWorks
provides a transition into the
fall season with The Light in
the Piazza (Aug. 25–Sept. 19), a
musical romance set in Italy. The
play is notable for Adam Gretel’s
adventurous, Tony Award–winning
score, which has more in common
with classical music and opera than
with traditional show tunes.
This production will feature a
ﬁve-piece chamber orchestra and
a cast singing in both English and
Italian. A show of this level of
sophistication will be in good hands
with artistic director Robert Kelley.
“He’s particularly good at taking
those large, grand-scale musicals and
making sure they still have a really
intimate, emotional appeal,” says
casting director Leslie Martinson.
Next up at TheatreWorks will be
Superior Donuts (Oct. 6–31), a warm
and humorous play from the Pulitzer
Prize–winning author Tracy Letts.
The play focuses on a run-down

Stage

Chicago donut shop, an aging
manager and an ambitious young
employee who wants to reinvigorate
the business. “It’s very much a
play about what happens when
a hopeless guy meets a guy with
nothing but hope,” says Martinson.
San Jose Repertory Theatre will
launch its season on Sept. 2 with
the West Coast premiere of Black
Pearl Sings!. Set in the 1930s, this
drama tells the story of Susannah,
a researcher who sets out to record
genuine African American songs.
She ﬁnds what she is looking for
in Pearl Johnson, a prisoner and
treasure trove of authentic music,
but the two women are suspicious
of one another.
“They have to learn to communicate with each other,” says director
Rick Lombardo. “They have to learn
how to trust each other. . . . It’s
about trying to ﬁgure out how you
begin to understand someone who is
so distinctly different from yourself.”
Pearl is soon singing, and
Susannah joins in. “Over the course
of the show they sing about 11 or 12
amazing folk songs, all a cappella,”
says Lombardo. “So it’s also about
the incredible power of the
unaccompanied human voice. It’s a
really wonderful night of theater.”
The Rep’s other shows include
a visit from the Flying Karamazov
Brothers, a medical thriller called
Secret Order, and Backwards in High

At San Jose Rep, Ginger Rogers
twirls again in BACKWARDS
IN HIGH HEELS.

Heels, a musical
about Ginger
Rogers.
For those
interested in
another musical
centered on the
African American
experience, catch
The Color Purple
(Nov. 23–28) at Broadway
San Jose. Based on Alice
Walker’s novel, this play won
nearly a dozen Tony awards after
its initial run on Broadway. If it
sounds a bit too heavy, consider
First Day of School (Sept. 23–Oct. 24)
at the City Lights Theater. This sex
comedy, which makes a satirical jab
at suburban parents, was penned
by Billy Aronson, creator of the
concept of Rent and a contributor
to Courage the Cowardly Dog and
Beavis & Butthead. The oddly titled
Abraham Lincoln’s Big Gay Dance
Party, by Aaron Loeb, also uses
humor to worry some signiﬁcant
issues. Both plays are South Bay
premieres.
San Jose Stage Company stars
the season with Reasons to Be Pretty
(Sept. 29–Oct. 24), the ﬁnal entry
in Neil LaBute’s trilogy focusing on
the modern preoccupation with
physical beauty. When a boyfriend
tells his girlfriend that she looks
“regular,” this ﬂippant comment
could end up destroying their

BROADWAY SAN JOSE

DRAGON PRODUCTIONS

PALO ALTO PLAYERS

San Jose Center for the Performing Arts

Dragon Theatre, Palo Alto

Lucie Stern Theater, Palo Alto

BURN THE FLOOR Sept. 21–26. A brief run of
the high-energy dance revue.
RAIN—A TRIBUTE TO THE BEATLES
Oct. 26–31. The Fab Four reconstructed.
THE COLOR PURPLE Nov. 23–28.

CITY LIGHTS THEATER COMPANY
San Jose
FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL Sept. 23–Oct. 24.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN’S BIG GAY DANCE PARTY
Nov. 24–Dec. 19.

LOVE SONG Sept. 10–Oct. 3. A romantic
comedy about the permeable membrane
between sane and crazy.

RENEGADE THEATRE
SEXPERIMENT
Historic Hoover Theater, San Jose
KILLER JOE Sept. 10–Oct. 2.
ALL THIS INTIMACY Nov. 5–27. A man with
too many irons in the ﬁre must deal all at once
with the women in his life.

DEAD MAN’S CELL PHONE Sept. 11–26.
A chance encounter with a corpse’s phone
leads a women into a quest to solve a murder
and ﬁx her own life. A comedy by Sarah Ruhl.
SUNSET BOULEVARD Nov. 6–21. The splashy
stage version of the Billy Wilder masterpiece
about an aging silent-ﬁlm star’s dreams
of a comeback with the help of a stranded
screenwriter.

relationship. The company’s holiday
show is a reprise of the very popular
compacting machine known as
Every Christmas Story Ever Told,
which earned a rave from Metro the
last time it was in town.
One of the area’s smaller
companies, Mountain View’s Pear
Avenue Theater, muscles up to a
very ambitious pairing of Part One
of Angels in America with Thornton
Wilder’s Our Town (Sept. 17–Oct. 16
and Sept. 24–Oct. 17, respectively)—
two deeply American dramas—in
tandem, with the same cast. Also
promising is quirky Renegade
Theatre Experiment, which is
presenting Killer Joe, (Sept. 10–
Oct. 2), a dark comedy about murder
and double-dealing that sounds
something like a Jim Thompson
novel. It is the ﬁrst play by Tracy
Letts, who went on to write Bug.

Sept. 17–Oct. 17.
CTRL + ALT + DELETE Nov. 5–21. A comedy by
Anthony about the innovative drive in Silicon
Valley as a man starts to sell his dream of a
cell phone that is also a computer—and it’s
not a Steve Jobs biography.

THE RETRO DOME
San Jose
SGT. PEPPER’S LONELY HEARTS CLUB BAND!
SINGING CONTEST Aug. 27–29.
THE FANTASTICKS Sept. 24–Oct. 24. The
play has lasted 50 years (and outlasted its
critics) with an emotional appeal that can’t
be thwarted.

SECRET ORDER Oct. 14–Nov. 7. A
thriller about cancer researcher tangling
with politics, ethics and greed—a
regional premiere of a play by Robert
Clyman.
4PLAY WITH THE FLYING KARAMAZOV
BROTHERS Nov. 10–14. A short run of
the popular juggling and performance art
wizards who once amazed passers-by on
the streets of Santa Cruz.
BACKWARDS IN HIGH HEELS Nov. 24–
Dec. 19. A Hollywood wit once quipped that
Ginger Rogers could do everything Fred
Astaire could do—only backwards in heels.
This musical biography looks at the life of
the Golden Age star.

september 10-11, 2010
campbell heritage theatre

TICKETS:
408-866-2700
www.taiko.org

SAN JOSE STAGE COMPANY
A SEASON IN HELL Sept. 17–19. A
multimedia exploration of how America
has descended into turmoil in the post9/11 era. This collaboration by Randall
Packer, tenor Charles Lane, director
Melissa Weaver and designer Gregory
Kuhn is part of the 01SJ festival.
REASONS TO BE PRETTY Sept. 29–
Oct. 24.
EVERY CHRISTMAS STORY EVER TOLD
Nov. 17–Dec. 19.

TEATRO VISION
Mexican Heritage Plaza Theater, San Jose
GAYTINO! Sept. 16. Dan Guerrero’s
drama about Chicano performer Lalo
Guerrero and his friend the artist Carlos
Almaraz; it touches on music, cultural
identity and the gay experience. The
show is done in conjunction with the
San José Mariachi and Mexican Heritage
Festival.

TABARD THEATRE COMPANY
STOMPIN’ AT THE SAVOY Oct. 8–24.
Tabard and San Jose Jazz have gotten
together to create a musical revue
centered on the Big Band era. The play

San Jose Stage Company wants
to deliver EVERY CHRISTMAS
STORY EVER TOLD.
aims to re-create a ﬂoor show from the
prewar era, with numbers by Ellington,
the Dorseys and more.
DRIVING MISS DAISY Nov. 12–27. The
story of a friendship between an African
American chauffeur and a Southern
grand dame garnered Oscars as a ﬁlm
and has been a considerable success in
stage versions as well.
THE GIFTS OF THE MAGI Dec. 3–19. For
season fare, the company offers a pair
of tales of O. Henry: “The Fit of the Magi”
and “The Cop and the Anthem” in musiccomedy form and drawing on the talents
of local school choirs.

URRENTLY depending from
the ceiling of the upstairs
gallery at the San Jose
Museum of Art is a ﬂotilla
of spindly sailing ships teetering
through the air. Tim Hawkinson’s
Aerial Mobile, constructed from bits
of fabric, string and TV antennae,
repurposes modern ﬂotsam into
a vision of the globalization of
19th-century trade across the high
seas. It can be seen as part of a show
called “Retro-Tech,” in which artists
look backward from a technological
perspective—instead of passively
accepting technology, they approach
modernity with the timeless eye
of the tinkerer, operating on the
mantra of “make it your own.”
At the San Jose Institute of
Contemporary Art, artists have
reversed the process, using early
photographic techniques—tintype,
silver gelatin prints—in new ways
to create surprising and startling
portraits and landscapes.
These exhibits and others, many
of them already under way, point
toward 01SJ, the biggest art event
of this fall (and the fall before, since

it is a biennial). Over four days,
Sept. 16–19, in downtown San Jose,
01SJ will explore a wide variety of
ways in which artists, tech types,
designers and any inquiring minds
from all over the world and locallyl
can collaborate on projects that
put cutting-edge methods in the
service of the imagination. In early
September, workshops will hunker
down on “garage-built” projects that
will be on display in the big blue
tent known as South Hall. The most
ambitious of these looks to be a
full-scale functional drive-in movie
theater constructed from cast-off
materials, among them cars plucked
from a junkyard.
The 01SJ sprawl encompasses the
3-D software alternative universes
of Alex McLeod at Anno Domini;
Christopher Baker’s interactive video
piece at Santana Row; an audienceinﬂuenced installation of tech
fashion at the San Jose Museum of
Quilts & Textiles; the AbsoluteZERO
street fair (Sept. 17); the KarmetiK
Collection, a robot/human musical
collective; midnight sound-art
concerts at Trinity Cathedral;
Randall Packer’s “A Season in Hell,”
a multimedia look at America in the
age of terror; and a global-warming
symposium. (See 01sj.org for details.)
Beginning concurrently with 01SJ
is the San José Mariachi and Mexican

Heritage Festival,
which brings with
it a long-awaited
(and delayed from
2009) display of
murals by José
Miguel Covarrubias
(1904–1957). Born in
Mexico and moving to
New York in the Jazz Age,
Covarrubias drew cartoons
for The New Yorker, studied
Balinese, American Indian and
Meso-American cultures and painted
a renowned suite of six murals for
the 1939 Golden Gate International
Exposition in San Francisco. After
years in storage, these illustrated
maps of the Paciﬁc Rim have ﬁnally
been restored. Four of the wall-size
pieces will be mounted at San Jose’s
City Hall (Sept. 15–Feb. 28).
The two big exhibits for the fall
at the busy Cantor Arts Center at
Stanford are “Go Figure!” a show
of modern ﬁgurative piece by such
notables as Robert Arneson, Joan
Brown, Robert Graham and Manuel
Neri” (opens Sept. 1). Starting Oct. 13
is “Vodoun/Vodounon: Portraits of
Initiates,” photographic diptychs by
Jean-Dominique Burton, a Belgian
photographer. The pictures combine
black-and-white portraits of voodoo
adherents with color images of
sacred spaces and objects.

BENOÎT MAUBREY of Audio Gruppe
salutes the future at 01SJ.
HUMAN NATURE A group show about our
connections with animals: Aug. 27–Oct. 17
in the Project Space.

SAN JOSE MUSEUM OF ART
DEGREES OF SEPARATION Contemporary
Photography From the Contemporary
Collection: Runs through March 14.
RETRO-TECH Runs through Feb. 6.
VITAL SIGNS New Media From the
Permanent Collection: Runs through Feb. 6.
NEW STORIES FROM THE EDGE OF ASIA:
PLASTIC LIFE: Runs through Sept. 19.
LEO VILLAREAL Runs through Jan. 9.
THE MODERN PHOTOGRAPHER Observation
and Intention: Oct. 1–July 3.

SAN JOSE CITY HALL
THE LOST MURALS OF MIGUEL COVARRUBIAS
An exhibit as part of the Mariachi and
Mexican Heritage Festival: Sept. 15–Feb. 28.

A CHILD’S WORLD Works by Squeak
Carnwath and others: Runs through
Sept. 26.
STAN WALSH Selected works
by ceramic and mixed-media
sculptor: Sept. 25–Nov. 28.
DAVID MIDDLEBROOK
Sculptures: Oct. 2–Dec. 5.

PALO ALTO ART CENTER
DREAM SEQUENCES, ceramic sculptures;
SURREAL REINVENTIONS, work by
Ruth Marten and John Hundt; SECRET
DRAWINGS INSPIRED BY THE EXQUISITE
CORPSE All run through Sept. 4.
IN FOCUS: COLLECTING PHOTOGRAPHY;
LIGHT FROM THE UNDERGROUND;
PAINTINGS FROM HAITI All three run
Sept. 25–Dec. 19.

Layna Chianakas, mezzo-soprano and
NONA (Nadine Trudel, cello and Gil Katz,
bass) join the San José Chamber Orchestra
for the world premieres of Kahea by
Michael Touchi and Tribal by Gil Katz.
Also included are works by Mozart,
Steven Mark Kohn and Robert Cornejo.
Tickets $35-$60

$10 student tickets!!!! (age 22 and under) www.sjco.org

tickets www.sjcotickets.org – 408 295-4416
Supported, in part, by a Cultural Affairs grant from the City of San José.

IVES QUARTET
Various locations
WORKS BY HAYDN Schumann and Rudhyar,
with guest pianist Gwendolyn Mok: Sept. 26 at
7pm at Le Petit Trianon, San Jose, and Oct. 1 at
8pm at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, Palo Alto.

QUARTETTO GELATO mixed instrument
ensemble. Oct. 17 at 2:30pm.

MASTER SINFONIA CHAMBER
ORCHESTRA
HANDEL AND HAYDN featuring Water Music
and plus Martin’s Concerto for Seven Wind
Instruments, Percussion and Strings. Oct. 24
at 3pm, Los Altos United Methodist.
BACH AND MOZART with violinist Pip Clarke
and the Piedmont Hills High School Chamber
Orchestra: Nov. 6 at 7:30pm.

MISSION CHAMBER ORCHESTRA
Le Petit Trianon, San Jose

na

SYMPHONY SILICON VALLEY

Brahms, and the rare
Symphonic Minutes by
Dohnányi. Rounding
out SSV’s 2010,
Giampaolo Bisanti
tilts toward
sunny Italy in
performances
on Dec 4–5.
Two Rossini
overtures, a
Schubert “middle
period” symphony,
a Mozart horn
concerto (featuring
soloist Meredith Brown)
and a Mendelssohn
overture ﬁll up the program.
Barbara Day Turner’s SAN JOSE
CHAMBER ORCHESTRA has a hard time
choosing which of her programs is
most exciting. Wisely, she “loves”
the next program each time out.
Her season, at the intimate and
ultralively Petit Trianon opens
Aug 28–29 with Mozart’s iconic
Eine kleine Nachtmusik and Robert
Cornejo’s Mestengo plus two
premieres, Michael Touchi’s Kahea,
“inspired by Hawaiian creation
myths and written speciﬁcally for
Layna Chianakas’ unique vocal and
dramatic abilities,” and Gil Katz’s
Tribal, inﬂuenced by an eclectic

Mu

S

EVERAL years ago, at a
gathering of music critics,
composer Kirke Mechem
described the difference between
opera and musical theater: opera is
for people who love music and like
theater; those who favor musical
theater like music but love theater.
For these purposes, we’ll return
opera to the classical-music
tradition, and laud OPERA SAN JOSE
for opening its new season with a
virtually brand-new opera, David
Carlson’s Anna Karenina. Conductor
Stewart Robertson, who premiered
the work with the Florida Grand
Opera and subsequently performed
and recorded it elsewhere, will be on
the podium in eight performances
of the West Coast premiere at the
California Theatre, Sept. 11–26. In
setting the Tolstoy masterpiece to
music, Carlson wisely put his score
at the service of story and actors, just
the kind of work that underscores
OSJ’s mission.
SYMPHONY SILICON VALLEY welcomes
back to its podium George Cleve

to open the new season with
bass-baritone Nathan Gunn
singing Gustav Mahler’s Songs of a
Wayfarer (Sept. 30–Oct. 3). Gunn
is enjoying an international career,
including the Paris Opera DVD
of Prokoﬁev’s War and Peace and a
crossover recital CD on Sony. The
haunting Mahler songs, abundantly
recycled into the composer’s First
Symphony, will be framed by
Schumann’s Spring Symphony
and Beethoven’s Symphony no. 7
(famously dubbed “apotheosis of
the dance” by Richard Wagner).
SSV’s season continues Oct. 16–17
when Hungarian-born Gregory
Vajda conducts a program inspired
by the Gypsy cultures of Romania,
Hungary and Spain. Fellow
Hungarian Lajos Sarkozi, 19-yearold violin prodigy and heir to a long
line of celebrated Gypsy musicians,
who ﬁrst caught the attention of
the classical music world while
performing in restaurants in
Prague, will be featured in Ravel’s
Tzigane and Sarasate’s Gypsy Airs.
(What strange irony following the
government of Nicolas Sarkozy’s
recent deportation to Romania of
nearly 100 Roma Gypsies.)
Vajda will also conduct popular
works by Kodály, Bartók and

RJ

High
Notes
By SCOTT MACCLELLAND

classical & dance

The Wilis do the wave at Ballet San Jose’s
production of GISELLE in October.

mix of musical genres expressing
the inner struggle between primal
instincts and rational reactions.
At BALLET SAN JOSE, the emphasis
this season is on story ballets
(which, come to think of it, are like
operas with dance moves). The ﬁrst
full-length work out of the gate
is Giselle, with choreography by
Dennis Nahat and guaranteed to
give audiences “the Wilis.”

MOZART’S PASSION with guest performers
pianist Keith Kirchoff and the Evergreen Valley
High School Chamber Orchestra: Sept 25 at
7:30pm.
PASSIONS IN CONTRAST with violinist
Pip Clarke and the Piedmont Hills High School
Chamber Orchestra: Nov. 6 at 7:30pm.

MISSION COLLEGE SYMPHONY
Mission College Main Building, Santa Clara
SPRINGTIME IN NOVEMBER including
Appalachian Spring: Nov. 7 at 2pm.

MUSIC AT MENLO
WINTER SERIES
Center for the Performing Arts, MenloAtherton High School
EMERSON STRING QUARTET Oct. 3 at 4pm.

REDWOOD SYMPHONY
NEW CENTURY CHAMBER
ORCHESTRA
First United Methodist, Palo Alto
AN EVENING WITH BASS PLAYER
EDGAR MEYER Sept. 24 at 8pm.
WALTZING IN APPALACHIA with works by
composer and ﬁddler Mark O’Connor:
Nov. 19 at 8pm.

Dance
BALLET SAN JOSE
GISELLE Oct. 22–24.
OPERA SAN JOSE starts its season with
a premiere of ‘Anna Karenina.’

THE NUTCRACKER Dec. 11–26.

ABHINAYA DANCE COMPANY
SAN JOSE SYMPHONIC CHOIR
HOMECOMING CONCERT with Nova Vista
Symphony, works by Mozart: Oct. 3 at
5:30pm, St. Andrew’s Episcopal, Saratoga.
THE MANY MOODS OF CHRISTMAS Dec. 4
at 7:30pm, Church of the Ascension,
Saratoga.
YOU-SING-IT MESSIAH with Mission
Chamber Orchestra: Dec. 6 at 7:30pm at
California Theater, San Jose.

The performing-arts series on,
in and about the historic Phelan
estate is a study in eclecticism.
The fall highlights include a
performance by the highly
praised Taylor Eigsti Trio, just off a
performance at the Stanford Jazz
Festival, a blues throwdown with
famed harmonica player James
Cotton and the ballet-expanding
troupe Hope Mohr Dance. The
Summer Concert series at the Garden
Theatre continues through Sept. 17.
Carriage House
HOPE MOHR DANCE Oct. 15 at 7pm.
KRONOS QUARTET explores new
sound-making tools for its concert
at Stanford on Oct. 13.

STANFORD LIVELY ARTS
The annual performing arts series at Stanford
ententacles a variety of genres (see Classical
for some highlights), loosely grouped this
year around the theme of “Memory,” and
featuring a number of commissioned works.
All concerts are at 8pm unless otherwise
shown.
DANIEL PEARL WORLD MUSIC DAYS Oct. 7 at
Memorial Church.
AWAKENING: A MEDITATION ON 9/11 with the
Kronos Quartet and Cantabile Singers: Oct. 13
at Memorial Auditorium.
THE PUNCH BROTHERS WITH CHRIS THILE
Oct. 15 at Dinkelspiel Auditorium.
SHUBHA MUDGAL Indian vocalist: Oct. 20 at
Dinkelspiel.
ST. LAWRENCE STRING QUARTET Oct. 24 at
2:30pm at Dinkelpsiel.
TOSHI REAGON blues singer, and BIGLovely:
Oct. 29 at Dinkelspiel.
BANG ON A CAN ALL-STARS Nov. 5 at
Dinkelspiel.
GAMELAN CUDAMANI music and dance
from Bali: Nov. 7 at 2:30pm at Memorial
Auditorium.
SANKAI JUKU Butoh group from Japan: Nov. 9
at Memorial Auditorium.
CHRISTIAN MCBRIDE with Inside Straight,
jazz: Nov. 13 at 8pm at Dinkelspiel.
MIDORI AND ROBERT MCDONALD classical
duet: Nov. 17 at Dinkelspiel.

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Located under the shadow of the Interstate 680 overpass in
Emma Prusch Park, VEGGIELUTION’s 1-acre farm has become a
green oasis in a sea of asphalt. The farm provides local youth
and their families with access to open space, healthy local food
and educational programs that empower youth and adults to
transform their bodies, communities and planet. Volunteers and
youth program participants at the farm manage a large composting
operation, grow and transplant seedlings from a small greenhouse
and complete all other farm jobs. Farm produce is distributed to
volunteers and is available to the public at a sliding-scale farm stand
and at local soup kitchens.
That’s what I call community service. Now it’s your chance to
be of service to Veggielution. The nonproﬁt farm and education
program is holding its annual fundraiser Sept. 11.
The “Bounty of Heart’s Delight” fundraiser
dinner will include a menu created by San
Jose chef JOSEPH GAUDET. The event will begin
M\^^`\clk`fe
at Veggielution’s farm with entertainment,
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appetizers and a tour of the farm. Dinner will
be served at EULIPIA, in downtown San Jose.
Sept. 11; www.bounty
The cost of the dinner is $100.
ofheartsdelight.org
The prime beneﬁciary of the dinner is the
VeggieYouth program. The year-old program
creates a safe space for high school youth to spend
time outside connecting with their food and with
each other. The summer program is in session now with students
drawn from the East Side Union High School District and other
local schools.
The 15 youths participate in team-building games, educational
presentations, farm work, cooking and communal eating. Eventually,
they will take on responsibilities like leading groups of volunteers
during workdays. Veggielution hopes the program will be a
transformative experience for the participants and turn them into
community leaders excited about healthy living and sustainable
agriculture.
I interviewed Veggielution executive director Aime Frisch last
year for a story I wrote on urban agriculture, and I was impressed
by what I saw. From humble beginnings (OK, they are still pretty
humble), they have created a real model for positive change. She
sees the farm and locally grown food in general as a “hub issue” that
addresses several social ills—access to fresh produce for low-income
communities, food security, the environment and childhood obesity.
“This is a place to get people to think past just buying food at the
grocery store,” she said. “I’ve had people pick a carrot for the ﬁrst
time and say, ‘This is the greatest carrot of my life.’ . . . Sustainably
farmed food shouldn’t be just for the affluent. [With Veggielution]
we’re actually creating what we want to see.”—Stett Holbrook

in
in a new
new location,
location, Edna
Edna Ray
Ray
continues
continues to
to serves
serves classics
classics
of
of Chinese-American
Chinese-American food
food
with
with the
the same
same quantity,
quantity,
familiarity
familiarity and
and reasonable
reasonable
prices.
prices. You’ll
You’ll ﬁnd
ﬁnd all
all three
three
here,
here, and
and then
then some.
some. 11:30am11:30am9:30pm
9:30pm daily.
daily. 1181
1181 Lincoln
Lincoln Ave.
Ave.
408.280.7738.
408.280.7738.

EELL H
HABANERO
ABANERO CCuban
uban and
and
Mexican.
Mexican. $$.
$$. The
The Cuban
Cuban food
food is
is
the
the star
star here.
here. The
The food
food is
is made
made
from
from family
family recipes
recipes and
and has
has
a hearty,
hearty, homespun
homespun appeal.
appeal.
Ropa
Ropa vieja
vieja is
is a classic
classic of
of Cuban
Cuban
cooking
cooking and
and the
the stewed
stewed beef
beef
dish
dish is
is a solid
solid choice
choice here
here
as
as is
is the
the oily
oily but
but delicious
delicious
vaca
vaca frita
frita is
is another
another winner.
winner.
Appetizers
Appetizers are
are strong,
strong, too,
too, but
but
skip
skip the
the disappointing
disappointing Cuban
Cuban
sandwich.
sandwich. 11am-9pm
11am-9pm daily.
daily.
Closed
Closed Monday.
Monday. 3132
3132 Williams
Williams
Rd.
Rd. 408.557.8914.
408.557.8914.

survivors.
survivors. Kepi
Kepi started
started the
the Groovie
Groovie
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Ghoulies in
in freakinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;
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983, with
with an
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that pretty
pretty much
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nobody
nobody remembers.
remembers. He
He weathered
weathered
a parade
parade of
of drummers
drummers that
that would
would
impress
impress even
even Spinal
Spinal Tap,
Tap, constantly
constantly
changing
changing musical
musical trends,
trends, and
and even
even a
breakup
breakup with
with his
his wife
wife and
and longtime
longtime
guitarist
guitarist Roach.
Roach. Somehow
Somehow he
he has
has
managed
managed to
to make
make some
some of
of the
the best
best
punk
punk Ramones-inspired
Ramones-inspired punk-pop
punk-pop
on
on the
the planet
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artist.
artist. Fanali
Fanali has
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answer to
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why KKepi
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houlie
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laying
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this anniversary
anniversary show
show for
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covered
and coldly cover
ed up
u by the
exposure
Army—led to the ex
xposure of
truths
some unpleasant tru
uths about
military.. The TTillman
our military
illm
man Military
program
seeks
correct
Scholars pr
ogram se
eeks to cor
rect
providing
another one byy ppr
ovidingg college
g
scholarships to vets, and all
proceeds
from
pr
oceeds fr
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b
and
silent auction will goo to it. (SP)

history.. “Boogie W
Wonderland”
history
onderland” and
“September”” wer
weree their most
“September
from
era.
popular songs fr
o the disco er
om
a.
They even pulled off a hit in the
Bee Gee’s
Gee’s bomb Sgt.
S P
Pepper’s
epper ’s
Club
LLonely
onelyy Hearts Clu
ub Band with their
version of “Got too Get YYou
ou Into My
Life.”
Life.” But what made
m
their mix of
funk, soul, pop an
and
nd jazz indelibly
cool was their sou
soundtrack
undtrack ffor
or
blaxploitation godfather
goddfather Melvin
Van
Van Peebles’
Peebles’ 19711 classic SSweet
weet
SSweetback’s
weetback’s Baadasssss
Baaddasssss Song.
Formed by brothers
brotheers Maurice and
Verdine
Verdine White, who
whho still lead it
today,
today, the dozen-piece
dozen--piece band was
still unknown andd (according
(according
to legend) living in
i a single
apartment when Van
Van Peebles
Peebles
ushered
ushered in the modern
modern soundtrack
soundtrack
era
era by releasing
releasing it
it before
before the ﬁlm
as a way to create
create some buzz. It
worked, and almost
almoost 40 years later,
later,
the group
group is a legend.(BD)
leggend.(BD)

Friday at 7pm, Saturday at 4pm;
Mitchell Park, Palo Alto; free
In the face of a persistent jobless pseudo-recovery,
we need the blatant agit-comedy of the San
Francisco Mime Troupe more than ever. For its 51st
season, the group is touring with its free (because
money is tight) show Posibilidad, or Death of the
Worker. It tells the cautionary tale of some workers
losing their jobs, their beneﬁts and their hopes
who suddenly stand up, initiate their own stimulus
package and take over their factory.

City Lights, San Jose; through Aug. 29
The very popular, often sold-out production of
Rent nears an end at City Lights. This local staging
has been widely praised for its pacing, energy and
humor in a tale torn from La Bohème and thrust
into the age of AIDS. This week’s shows include
a special sing-along fundraiser night on Wednesday.

daughter, who falls for a young
Florentine. All three face a lifechanging journey. Tue-Wed,
7:30pm, Thu-Fri, 8pm, Sat, 2
and 8pm, Sun, 2 and 7pm. Thru
Sep 19. $22/$70. Mountain
View Center for the Performing
Arts.

POSIBILIDAD, OR DEATH OF
THE WORKER

Theater

The San Francisco Mime
Troupe opens its 51st season
with a story of workers who
try to take back control after
losing their jobs when a factory
shuts down. Fri, 7pm, Sat 4pm.
Free. Mitchell Park, Palo Alto.

A BOX OF ONE ACTS

RENT

Short plays by Bay Area writers
mounted by the Cardboard
Box Theatre Project. Fri, 8pm,
Sun, 7pm. Pay what you can.
WORKS/San Jose.

THE KING AND I
The Rodgers and Hammerstein
classic musical presented by
South Valley Civic Theatre.
Fri-Sat, 8pm. Thru Aug
28. $14/$18. Morgan Hill
Community Play House.

THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA
TheatreWorks presents the
story of a protective American
mother vacationing with her

The last weekend for City
Lights Theater Company’s
version of the updated musical
based on “La Boheme.” ThuSat, 8pm, Sun, 2pm. Thru Aug
29. $25/$40. City Lights, San
Jose.

RENT SING-A-LONG
A special beneﬁt sing-a-Long
performance and reception.
The night begins with a
champagne reception at 7pm;
the show starts at 8pm. All
proceeds beneﬁt City Lights
Theater Company. Wed, 7pm.
$50. City Lights, San Jose.

HISTORY PARK SAN JOSE
“Explore San Jose Parks—
Open to the Public Since
1850.” Thru Jan 23. At Paciﬁc
Hotel Gallery. Tue-Sun, 11am5pm. San Jose.

SAN JOSE MUSEUM OF ART
“New Stories From the Edge
of Asia: Plastic Life.” Thru
Sep 19. “Leo Villareal.” A
retrospective of works by
an artist at who was among
the ﬁrst to use LEDs and
computerized imagery in his
pieces. Thru Jan. 9. “RetroTech.” A group show about
artists reusing old and new
technologies. Thru Feb 6.
“Vital Signs: New Media From
the Permanent Collection.”
Thru Feb 6. “Degrees of
Separation: Contemporary
Photography From the
Permanent Collection.” Thru
Mar 14. Tue-Sun, 11am-5pm,
closed Mon. San Jose.

SAN JOSE MUSEUM OF
QUILTS AND TEXTILES
“ITAB: International TECHstyle
Art Biennial.” A juried show
of works by artists who
combine ﬁber arts with new
technologies. Thru Oct 31. TueSun, 10am-5pm. San Jose.

TECH MUSEUM
”Genghis Khan.” A new show
about the technological,
martial and social advances of
the Mongol warrior. Mon-Wed,
10am-5pm, Thu-Sun, 10am8pm. San Jose.

TRITON MUSEUM OF ART
“Erin Goodwin-Guerrero:
Caught Between Heaven and
Earth.” Recent works by the
painter. Thru Sep 19. “Flights
of Fancy: New works by Livia
Stein.” Thru Sep 19. “A Child’s
World.” A show about inner
youth, with works by Squeak
Carnwath, Enrique Chagoya
and others. Thru Sep 26. TueWed and Fri-Sun, 11am-5pm.
Thu, 11am-9pm. Santa Clara.

KAVLI INSTITUTE FOR
PARTICLE ASTROPHYSICS
A display of 19 works,
including the “Galactic
Mysteries” series, by Leah
Lubin. SLAC National
Accelerator Lab, Stanford.

MARTIN LUTHER KING JR.
LIBRARY
“Anna Karenina—The Making
of a Modern American Opera.”
Material from collection of
composer David Carlson. Thru
Aug 30. “Animals of the Bible”
by Tamar Assf. Thru Aug 31.
San Jose.

METRO LOBBY
“(Whatever). Sometimes No
Theme Is a Good Theme.” A
photo show by First St. Photo
Collective. Thru Aug. San Jose.

MONTALVO ARTS CENTER
“Sculpture on the Grounds.”
In-site works by David
Middlebrook, Ann Weber and
Ali Maschke-Messing. Thru
Oct. Saratoga.

MOHR GALLERY
Watercolors by William Dunn.
Thru Sep 20. Community
School of Music and Arts,
Mountain View.

Harrelson, Emma Stone and Abigail
Breslin. Zombie wannabes can crawl
through San Joseâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s SoFA District
before and after the screening.
(Plays at sunset Aug 25 in downtown
San Jose at S. First and Williams
Street; free.) (RvB)

59

biz voices adorn the mix: Welsh
dialect comedian Richard Haydn as
the caterpillar, Sterling Holloway
as the Cheshire Cat and boisterous
Jerry Colonna as the March Hare.
(Plays Aug 26 in Redwood City in
Old Courthouse Square at sundown;
free.) (RvB)

Revivals

FUNNY FACE/LOVE IN THE
AFTERNOON

ALICE IN WONDERLAND

(Both 1957) Fred Astaire plays a
ďŹ ctionalized version of fashion
photographer Richard Avedon in Funny
Face. During a photo shoot in a New
York bookstore, he is taken with the

(1951) Never anyoneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s favorite
Disney movie, it was a project that
had been thought about for decades
at the studio. Some deďŹ nitive show-

TAKING a drama and making a
melodrama requires some serious reverse
engineering. You need terriďŹ c coincidences,
synchronicity like nobodyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s business and
surpassing blindness to circumstances. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
not enough for Abner the kid (Alex Perea)
of Miguel Necoecheaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s The Kid: Chamaco to
discover that his sister, Silvana, is carrying
on with his new coach, Jimmy Irwin (Kirk
Harris), a noted Yankee boxer recuperating
from a loss in Mexico City.
In fact, Abner must show up at the hotel
where Irwin is staying at precisely the
moment necessary to see Silvana and
Irwin kissing, the two having met by
complete coincidence at this hotel. Mexico
City is a small world, and this boxing
melodrama aims to make it smaller.
Taking the part traditionally played in the
genre by Irish priests, the reliable Martin
Sheen is Dr. Irwin, Jimmyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s father, a gringo
volunteer expiating a sin he never gets to
speak of in detail. There seems to be a kind
of anti-choice side to this penanceâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;a bad
abortion the doctor performed. (On the
bright side, the doctor hands out birthcontrol pills.)
It all comes together, of course, in
the boxing ring, with everyone nicely
redeemed. The storyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s purpose is a
symbolic troubled friendship between
Norte Americanos and Mexicans, with all
forgiven at the end. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s stitched together
with cross-cultural subtitles in gringo and
Spanish, as the conversation switches back

!

and forth across the language line. The
English-to-Spanish translations are more
modest, and why? Not only can everyone
in Mexico understand the phrase â&#x20AC;&#x153;fuck
you,â&#x20AC;? they also know it doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t mean â&#x20AC;&#x153;ÂĄvete
el diablo!â&#x20AC;?
Director/co-writer
Necoechea brings
some Mexico City
K_\B`[1
:_XdXZf
ďŹ&#x201A;avor, for instance
a cabbie asking for
Unrated; 97 min.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;80 pesitas.â&#x20AC;? The Kid:
Fridayâ&#x20AC;&#x201C;Saturday,
Chamaco is enlivened
Monday
with some gusty
Camera 7, Campbell
moments with Michael
Madsen as Jimmyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
gruffster manager. If
youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re Michael Madsen, you will get to
wear a Hawaiian shirt to work every day
for the rest of your life.
Other contributions to your credulity
are sneeze-worthy: that a brother will
never ďŹ gure out his sister is una puta con
el corazon del oro, even if she hangs out
in front of a hot-sheet hotel in ďŹ shnet
stockings; that the father of an Olympic
boxer will not, somehow, know how to
hold punching pads for his son to train
with; that when a character dies, someone
else will need to be informed that â&#x20AC;&#x153;her
death still affects himâ&#x20AC;? even if the body
hasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t had time to get cold yet. The Kid:
Chamaco shows as part of the Maya Indie
Festival, about which, see page 58.
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;Richard von Busack

61

HAIRSPRAY
(2007) The sing-along tribute to the
kind of exuberant, fast and funny
musical that has seemed extinct
since the 1950s. John Watersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;

musical celebrates how the 1960s
tackled the idea that there was
just one way to be beautiful. (Plays
Aug 27-29 in San Jose at the Retro
Dome.) (RvB)

THE SCARLET EMPRESS/KISMET
(1934/1944) The Marlene Dietrich/
Josef von Sternberg rich farrago on
the life of Catherine the Great, from

convent to hilarious last two-shot.
Dietrich plays the innocent German
princess corrupted by a nest of mad
royals, including Sam Jaffe (an evil
Harpo Marx look-alike) and Louise
Dressler as the profane old empress.
The cinematography is superb
beyond all reason, with Dietrichâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
face ďŹ ltered through shimmering
clouds of smoke and layers of
gossamer veils. BILLED WITH Kismet.
Ronald Colman plays a sophisticated
beggar in ancient Islam; Dietrich is a
gilded wife of a portly vizier (Edward
Arnold) clearly too slow for her.
(Plays Aug 25-27 in Palo Alto at the
Stanford Theatre.) (RvB)

with subject line:
THE AMERICAN
Deadline for entries is
Wednesday, September 1, 2010.

No purchase necessary to enter contest. One entry per person/household. Late and duplicate entries will be disqualified. Passes, each good for two people, are in limited supply and available while supplies last. Winners picked by random drawing of all valid entries received by
deadline and notified by mail. Run-of-engagement passes received through this promotion do not guarantee admission to the theatre. Seating is on a first come, first served basis. Theatre is open to paying customers. All federal, state and local regulations apply. A recipient of
tickets assumes any and all risks related to use of ticket and accepts any restrictions required by ticket provider. Focus Features, SJ Metro, Terry Hines & Associates and their affiliates accept no responsibility or liability in connection with any loss or accident incurred in connection
with use of a prize. Tickets cannot be exchanged, transferred or redeemed for cash, in whole or in part. We are not responsible if, for any reason, winner is unable to use his/her ticket in whole or in part. Not responsible for lost; delayed or misdirected entries. All federal and local
taxes are the responsibility of the winner. Void where prohibited by law. Participating sponsors their employees and family members and their agencies are not eligible. NO PHONE CALLS! TICKETS RECEIVED THROUGH THIS PROMOTION ARE NOT FOR RESALE.

Garrison Keillor
Wednesday, Aug. 25, at 7:30pm at Mountain
Winery, Saratoga; $39.50-$95
Avuncular humorist is a mix of the austere and
the scatological. Objections to his brand of sweet
corn—skits that should have been buried years
ago, fogeyish pronouncements on marriage—are
common. Keillor’s life’s work is a fantasy of a
Midwest where all eccentrics are tolerated, and all
open-minded people are made welcome. (RvB)

Melissa Etheridge
Thursday, Aug. 26 at 7:30pm at Mountain
Winery, Saratoga; $39.50–$104.50.
Holy crap, do you realize it’s been almost 20 years
since Melissa Etheridge came out? It blew people’s
minds in 1993, but looking back, Yes I Am as an “event”
seems so quaint. Since then, she’s beaten breast
cancer, won an Oscar (for “I Need to Wake Up” from An
Inconvenient Truth), married, separated and had a child
from the donated sperm of David Crosby. (SP)

Dave Matthews Band
Saturday, Aug. 28, at 7pm at Shoreline,
Mountain View; $40-$70
I’ve struggled with the Dave Matthews Band since
they ﬁrst rose to stardom in the mid-’90s. I want
to like them, but I can’t get into their jam-bandy
soft rock. And I’m pretty sure every one agrees with
me, because at last count Matthews had only sold
around 30 million albums. (AC)

8J:C<8E8J?<N8EKJKF9<
Brian Regan thinks
it’s odd that people pay so much attention to the lack of
swear words in his act. Seriously, WTF?

Brian Regan
BRIAN REGAN deﬁnitely looks at the world from a unique
perspective. Unfortunately, the off-kilter spin he puts on his comedy
is often lazily labeled “observational humor.” Perhaps this is because
Jerry Seinfeld considers Regan one of his favorite standup acts, but
in any case it doesn’t do much to adequately deﬁne the wordplay
and surreal tangents in Regan’s bits on topics as varied as learning
Spanish, kidnapping Russell Crowe and writing
banana jokes for Planet of the Apes. Another curious
Saturday, 8pm
quirk of Regan’s reputation is the media obsession
with the fact that he doesn’t curse or do lewd
Center for the
material in his act. In fact, it’s difficult to ﬁnd a story
Performing Arts
about him that doesn’t make it seem as if his lack of
in San Jose
profanity is just as—or even more—important than
his jokes. “I cringe when I read the ‘clean’ headline
$38.50
in a newspaper. I feel like it oversimpliﬁes what I’m
trying to do,” he told me. “I don’t sit down and think,
‘Man, I’m going to write some clean jokes!’ It’s like someone looking
at an Ansel Adams photo and going ‘Wow, those are black and
white! Look how black and white those are!’ It’s like, yeah, but aren’t
they pretty good photographs too?” —Steve Palopoli

Buy tickets at livenation.com. To charge by phone (800) 745-3000.
Limit 8 tickets per person. All dates, acts and ticket prices are
subject to change without notice. All tickets are subject to applicable service charges.

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YX[k`d\#Xe[k_XkÊjn_Xk@Z_fj\%@[`[`kfm\ik_\g_fe\Xjj_\nXjYfXi[`e^
XgcXe\kfXkk\e[_\iY\jk]i`\e[Êjn\[[`e^%@k_fl^_k`knflc[Y\^ff[]fi
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^ff[gXik1@nXek_\iYXZb%@Êdi\Xccpefkjli\n_p@[`[`k`ek_\ÓijkgcXZ\%@
^l\jj@k_fl^_kj_\Ê[Y\Y\kk\if]]n`k_flkd\#Xe[\eafpZ`kpc`]\n_`c\j_\Êj
pfle^Xe[j`e^c\%J_\Êj)-#@Êd*(% Efn@ZXeÊkjc\\g#\Xk#fik_`ebn`k_flk_\i#
Ylkj_\nfeÊk\m\ekXcbkfd\%N\lj\[kfcfm\j`kk`e^`eXZ_X`ikf^\k_\iXe[
i\X[`e^pfliZfcldefen\\b\e[j%@Ê[^`m\Xepk_`e^kfY\YXZb`ek_XkZ_X`i
n`k__\i#i\X[`e^k_`jXe[pfliXejn\i%Æ?\XikYifb\e
Accidents do happen. If you aren’t
careful, you might walk into a plate
glass window or methodically go on
the Internet to gauge the exact time
your girlfriend’s plane is leaving,
dial her cell, wait for her to answer,
and—whoops!—announce that you’re
dumping her . . . just in time for the
ﬂight attendant to announce “Please
turn off all electronic devices, and sit
back and enjoy your ﬂight.”
There actually is a good time to
break up with somebody, and it’s
when you’re sure the relationship’s
over. Accordingly, there’s a good time
to ﬁgure out why you’re breaking up,
and that’s before you do the deed.
And, why did you break up with your
girlfriend? Here’s the good part: You’re
still not sure! Luckily, you don’t let
that stop you from spinning this as
some benevolent act on your part.
Yeah, sure, you only dumped her to
make her happy. You just want her
to enjoy herself while she still has
her youth. (After all, at 26, she only
has six decades before she needs a hip
replacement.)
Want to do a good deed? Buy
a homeless guy new shoes and a
turkey sandwich. Want to do right by
your girlfriend? Figure out why you

dumped her. Commitment issues? Preemptive abandonment (ditching her
before she ditches you)? Only if you
let her know exactly what she’s dealing
with can she assess whether it makes
sense to give you another shot, in a
way she can’t with “it was just one of
those random acts of blithering idiocy.”
If you’ve had a pretty good record
with her up till now (you’ve never left
her at the mall or anything), you might
be able to worm your way back in. You
need to express deep remorse for what
you did and beg her to take you back
(be speciﬁc about why she’s so great
and why you’re great together). Of
course, getting her to even talk to you
will take an act of romantic restitution.
(Think John Cusack as Lloyd Dobler,
standing under his girlfriend’s
bedroom window, boom box over his
head, blasting Peter Gabriel’s “In Your
Eyes.”) Women are suckers for a having
a great romantic story to tell, especially
one where the guy shows that he gets
what an idiot he was to ever take the
woman for granted—and not just
because he called a friend: “Broke up
with her this morning.” Friend: “Dude.
She was hot. What’d you do that for?”
Guy: “Damn, you’re right. I’ll call back
and tell her I was just messing around.”

@i\Xccpc`b\k_`j^lp@Êm\jkXik\[[Xk`e^%N\Êm\fecpb`jj\[feZ\%?\ÊjefkX
^i\Xkb`jj\i%:Xepflk\XZ_jfd\Yf[pkfb`jjY\kk\i6Dp^`ic]i`\e[jjXpXYX[
b`jj\i`jX[\XcYi\Xb\i%ÆNfe[\i`e^
With friends like yours, Snow White
would still be in a coma. The prince
would maybe put too much saliva
into the kiss, and she’d wake up for a
moment—just long enough to exclaim,
“Eeeuw! You kiss bad!”—then pull the
silk pillow over her head and go back
to bed for the rest of her life.
Come on, the guy kissed you once.
Even criminals get a second chance.
You can’t change a man’s character, but

you can whisper in his ear, “softer” or
“a little slower.” Don’t make it about
what he’s doing wrong but about what
you really like. Kiss him the way you
want to be kissed. If need be, tell him
what turns you on, like how you love
gentle biting on your bottom lip (as
grateful as you are to have discovered
what it’s like to close your eyes and
be licked upside the mouth by a
romantically minded Great Dane).

Enrolling people with asthma,
ages 18-65, for the next few
months into a 10 week research
study using an investigational
oral medication.
Qualified participants will
receive study related
medical exams and study
medication at no cost,
and may receive compensation
up to $1,060.00.
Allergy & Asthma Associates of Santa Clara Valley
Research Center

4050 Moorpark Avenue, Suite 6 San Jose, CA 95117

408.553.0709 ext. 237

g
Legal
Notices

Legal & Public Notices

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS
NAME STATEMENT
#541055
The following person(s) is
(are) doing business as: 1.
Huong Que, 2. HQ Dining,
3005 Silver Creek Rd., #152,
San Jose, CA, 95121, Kim
Houng Food & Beverage.
This business is conducted
by a Corporation.
The state of Corporation:
California.
Registrant has not yet begun
transacting business under
the fictitious business name
or names listed herein on.
/s/Thanh Truc Nguyen
CEO

#3269586
This statement was filed with
the County Clerk of Santa
Clara County on 8/06/2010.
(pub Metro 8/25, 9/01, 9/08,
9/15/2010)

The changes would go into
effect between October 2010
and January 2011.

The following proposals will
be considered:
∑ Suspend all weekend service
Public Hearing &
Reduce weekday early
Meetings on Proposed ∑morning,
midday and/or late
Fare Increase &
evening service
∑ Suspend service south of
Service Suspension
Tamien station to Gilroy
The Peninsula Corridor Joint
Powers Board will take com- ∑ Discontinue staffed ticket
offices at San Francisco and
ment on proposed Caltrain
fare and related fee increases San Jose Diridon stations
and service suspensions at a ∑ Increase the Full Fare Oneway base or zone fares by 25
public hearing to be held
cents and corresponding
Sept. 2, 2010 at 10 a.m. at
changes to related fare media
the Caltrain Administrative
∑ Increase Go Pass price to
Office, 1250 San Carlos Ave.
$155
in San Carlos.
∑ Modify parking fees and
Caltrain also will hold commu- regulations
nity meetings at four locations ∑ Revise codified tariff to
to inform the public about the reflect ClipperSM card impleproposed fare increases and
mentation –
service suspensions and to
∑ explain mandatory Clipper
receive comments.
SM fee established by MTC,

∑ discontinue the monthly
pass grace period,
∑ discontinue use of 8-ride by
more than one passenger per
ticket, and
∑ redefine youth to 17 years
old and younger
Three drop-in community
meetings will be held
Thursday, Aug. 19 from 6
p.m. to 7 p.m. at:
- San Francisco Caltrain
Station, 700 Fourth St. in San
Francisco
- Caltrain Administrative
Office, second floor auditorium, 1250 San Carlos Ave. in
San Carlos
- San Jose Diridon station, 65
Cahill St. in San Jose
A fourth drop-in community
meeting will be held at the
Gilroy station Thursday, Aug.
19, beginning with the first
train arriving at 5:30 p.m.
and continuing through the
last train at 7:47 p.m.

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]ifdXkfieX[f%=fikleXk\cpefi\Xc_XidnXj[fe\#Ylk`kjkXik\[d\
nfe[\i`e^1Xi\elZc\Xigfn\igcXekjYl`ckkfn`k_jkXe[X[`i\Zk_`k]ifd
XkfieX[f6Æ;\\9Xie\kk#=fikNfik_
There’s a range of possible answers
to this question: 1. Yup, 100 percent
guaranteed. 2. Hope so. 3. Oh, shit.
No one can ever honestly give answer
No. 1. Nuclear-power engineers like to
think they can use answer two without
crossing their ﬁngers. However, they
thought the same thing at the Bureau of
Underwater Oil Well Leaks.
The close encounter with a tornado
you’re probably referring to involved
the Fermi 2 nuclear plant in Michigan.
Although the reactor shut down due to a
partial loss of emergency backup power,
actual physical harm was limited to a
hole in the roof, siding stripped from an
outbuilding and some damage to the
cooling tower, which is actually less scary
than it sounds.
Tornado-related structural damage
comes from three sources: the wind itself,
suction and ﬂying debris. In the early
Atoms for Peace days, the Atomic Energy
Commission merely required that plants
be able to withstand high winds, but in
the late ’60s regulators began thinking
harder about suction and debris.
To get a better handle on how bad
tornadoes could get, the government
looked at the research of Ted Fujita,
creator of the F-scale of tornado intensity,
which rated twisters from F0 to F5 based
on the damage they caused. In 1974
the ﬁrst major regulations for tornadoresistant design came out, requiring that
nuclear plants in most of the U.S. be
capable of surviving a total wind speed
of 360 miles per hour—a ﬁgure that
was literally off the charts, as the F-scale
topped out at 318 mph. That raised the
question of how tornado-resistant pre1974 plants were. A mid-’70s study of nine
early plants found the odds of serious
tornado damage in any given year were
less than one in 5 million, with damage
likely limited to the backup power
systems. The chance of a tornado-induced
core meltdown was calculated at 1 in 15
million over a reactor’s 30-year life span.
To the jaded modern ear, those
numbers may sound too reassuring to be
right, and in fact research established that
severe damage can occur at much lower
speeds than Fujita initially thought. This
gave rise to the Enhanced Fujita scale,
or EF-scale, introduced in 2007, which
greatly lowered estimated wind speeds for

the most destructive tornadoes.
The current design standard requires
that nuclear plants be able to withstand
“the most severe tornado that could
reasonably be predicted to occur at the
site,” based on a study of more than 50
years of tornado data. Today nuclear
plants in the Midwest and Great Plains
must be designed for total wind speeds
of 230 mph, which reﬂects a better
understanding of how much damage can
occur at that speed.
A nuclear plant must be able to safely
survive the impact of a one-inch steel ball
hurtling through the air at 17 mph, a 15foot length of 6-inch-diameter steel pipe
ﬂung at 92 mph, and a 4,000-pound car
ﬂying at the same speed.
What kind of tornado damage
have nukes suffered to date? Nothing
that came close to releasing radiation,
although buildings and equipment have
certainly gotten roughed up some. The
ﬁrst incident occurred at the Grand Gulf
Nuclear Generating Station in Mississippi,
which encountered an F3 tornado on
April 17, 1978, while the plant was still
under construction. Damage was limited
to the electrical switchyard and a cooling
tower, which lost a big chunk of concrete
from the top.
In 1998 the Davis-Besse Nuclear Power
Plant in Ohio was hit by an F2 tornado,
which damaged the switchyard and
communications and forced the plant
into automatic shutdown after external
power was lost. Due to the lack of power,
a spent-fuel storage pond got warmer
than the operators would have liked, but
no radiation was released.
On August 24, 1992, Hurricane
Andrew, then a Category 4 storm caused
extensive but ultimately minor damage
to the Turkey Point Nuclear Generating
Station in Florida. The reactor shut down
following loss of outside power and
phone systems plus damage to the ﬁre
protection systems, emergency generator
and several outbuildings.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission
seems anxious to demonstrate that
it’s not taking a casual attitude toward
these things. In 2009 it rejected the
Westinghouse AP-1000 reactor design—
regulators feared the shield building, with
walls of steel and concrete three feet thick,
might not be strong enough.